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Petrov Reveals Renault Talks, Doornbos Says F1 Seat Costs $5 Million

Russia may indeed have a driver competing in the Formula One Championship next season. While several rumors have made the headlines in recent weeks about a potential deal between Vitaly Petrov on the one hand, and Campos Grand Prix or Renault F1 on the other, it has now been confirmed by the Russian driver that negotiations are currently ongoing with the Enstone based team.

The 25-year old is seen as a talented driver that has both the quality and the financial means – benefiting from strong sponsorship backing – to make the step in Formula One, after 3 long seasons in the GP2 Main Series. During the recently ended campaign in F1's feeder series, the Russian driver had to settle for the runner-up spot, behind new Williams F1 race driver Nico Hulkenberg.

We are currently in negotiations with the Renault team and so far everything is at the stage of finalizing,” Petrov is quoted as saying by infox.ru, as reported by the GMM news agency.

However, the former (and current, until proven differently) GP2 racer made it very clear that nothing has been settled with Renault F1. In addition, he even gave the Enstone officials a deadline for the ongoing negotiations, saying that unless an agreement will be signed until the Valencia test on February 1st, all talks will end with immediate effect.

No contracts with Renault or any other F1 team have so far has been signed. One thing can be said with certainty: the negotiations must be completed before February 1, when the test drives begin,” added Petrov, therefore hinting that “other F1 teams” might also be in line for signing the Russian driver.

The lack of financing recently revealed by Campos Grand Prix might be a good opportunity for Petrov to buy his seat into the Spanish outfit, where he would partner former GP2 rival Bruno Senna.

As revealed by former F1 racer Robert Doornbos, both Campos GP and US F1 are currently asking around $5 million for a race seat.

There were some conversations with USF1 and Campos Meta who were interested, they were just asking for 5 million US dollars in sponsorship money,” said the Dutch, revealing that he also made an attempt to return to F1 in recent months.
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